Johnson Goes Back to School

Davey Johnson is back in baseball. Well, sort of.

Rollins College, a Division II school in Winter Park, Fla., will introduce the former Dodger manager and longtime area resident as a special assistant to the athletic director today.

He will help in fund-raising, serve as a consultant to the baseball program and teach a class on managing a baseball team.

“No jokes,” said Johnson, who then laughed. “Can you believe that they have a class like that?

“It’s only a half a semester, and the other half is a class about coaching a basketball team. I’m just going to teach the part about the baseball. Again, no jokes.”

Surprisingly, Johnson’s tone was equally upbeat when the subject turned to his former employer and hasty exit from Chavez Ravine.

It has been almost a year since Chairman Bob Daly fired baseball’s then-winningest active manager, siding with former general manager Kevin Malone after a long-running feud that divided the organization.

Malone was forced to resign April 18, ending a brief and stormy chapter in the club’s history.

What is Johnson’s opinion of the latest Dodger front-office shakeup?

“I don’t even want to touch that one,” Johnson said in his first public comments about the team this season. “ ... he bar was set too high. We’re not even over a little bar yet, and we’re supposed to be right up there with the Yankees? It was just too high. You know what I mean?

“But from what I’ve heard, [Dan] Evans and [Dave] Wallace have been doing a real good job. They’re both good men, and they seem to be working real well together with [Manager Jim] Tracy. Trust me, that helps.”

Johnson is especially pleased about the success of his former bench coach.

The Dodgers have remained in playoff contention despite a rash of injuries and off-field distractions, and Johnson said Tracy’s steady guidance has been a key.

“He’s done a great job keeping them together, a great job,” he said. “They’ve been devastated by some injuries, but he’s kept them going in the right direction the whole time.

“It’s always a lot harder than it looks, but it’s really tough when you’ve had the amount of injuries they’ve had. You can’t say enough about the job he’s doing.”

Not that Johnson is surprised, though, considering he strongly recommended Tracy.

“No question, I was a big supporter of his,” he said. “I told Bob Daly, [President Bob] Graziano ... and I also told Tracy I was in his corner.

“He got my recommendation because I got to know him pretty good in my time there. The more I was around him, the more I knew he could do it. I knew him well enough to know that his judgments, and his assessments of players, were right.”

Johnson said Tracy sometimes wondered whether he was the right guy for a big-market job, and Johnson provided pep talks.

“I told him that if you can manage, you can manage anywhere,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in a big market, a small market or whatever. If you know what you’re doing, that’s what counts.

“Like I said, I knew he could do it because of the time we were together. He paid his dues managing in the minors, and he probably deserved an opportunity long before he got this one.

“He’s just a good guy and a hard worker. I’m proud of him and what he’s been able to accomplish, but everything he’s done he’s earned. He’s the one responsible for his success.”

Johnson said that right fielder Shawn Green--who has established a Dodger season home run record--has been another factor in the team’s performance.

“I knew Greenie would be better this year,” he said. “He had a tough time switching leagues, but he’s a smart player and he made the adjustments.

“The infield has come together more with [Mark Grudzielanek] having another year at second, and some of the kid pitchers [Eric Gagne and Luke Prokopec] have really carried them at times. And [Gary Sheffield] has just been Sheff.”

With his new job at Rollins College, Johnson, whom the Dodgers are paying $1.5 million, said he has shut the door on the big leagues.

However, he still plans to keep an eye on the Dodgers in the final days of the National League playoff races.

“They’re in a great race,” Johnson said.